Organic dairy co-op files for liquidation
A co-operative touted as New Zealand's only 100% farmer-owned organic milk producer has gone bust.
The up-and-coming leaders of New Zealand's primary sector are frustrated by the lack of collaboration between industry players.
The latest edition of KPMG's 2015 Agribusiness Agenda has sought the views of the primary sector's emerging leaders. The survey involved more than 50 young leaders, and KPMG hosted a one-day summit at the Chrysalis Innovation Studio in Auckland.
According to Justine Fitzmaurice, a senior manager at KPMG who advises agribusiness companies, there is a real sense of frustration among young leaders in the sector.
"They cannot understand why current leaders are not collaborating in a meaningful way – and combining their resources for the benefit of everyone across R&D, marketing, processing or distribution. Instead, we have companies continuing to work in silos. The message we got from young leaders is that they are exasperated by the duplication and sheer waste of it all."
KPMG's Julia Jones, who co-authored the agenda with Justine Fitzmaurice, says the word 'trust' came up many times during the summit discussions.
"Emerging leaders believe that existing leaders, particularly those in like industries, need to shut the door on the past and learn to trust each other. For example, they're dismayed by the 'street fighting' that currently occurs among companies in New Zealand's red meat sector," she says.
"They want to see us working together to gain market advantage against our international competitors; not competing against each other to needlessly drive prices down for everyone in New Zealand."
Jones says the generation of under-30s view collaboration as a natural way of doing business.
"Collaboration is their MO....they've gone through an education system that's based on achieving outcomes in groups. For them, it's just a normal way of working – and they believe it should be part of everyday business."
One of the guest speakers at the summit, Professor Kaj Storbacka, reinforced the need for New Zealand's primary sector to develop a collaborative strategy. He advocates the concept of market-shaping; which is essentially creating your desired market, rather than following an existing one.
"Competitive strategy is not the silver bullet," says Storbacka, "Those who want to shape markets need to engage in collaborative strategy."
In other key findings from the latest Agribusiness Agenda:
The Ministry for the Environment (MfE) has found itself in a stoush with NZPork over the controversial National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land (NPS-HPL).
Fonterra says the sale of its global consumer business and its Oceania and Sri Lankan operations could take 18 months to complete.
The lobby group the Methane Science Accord (MSA) says it welcomes a recent government move to seek outside advice on reducing biological methane targets, rather than relying on recommendations made by the Climate Change Commission.
Well-known scientist Jock Allison has passed away.
After a decade of consultation and court battles, Environment Southland has officially adopted a plan to prevent further decline in the region's water quality.
Farmers are throwing down the gauntlet to politicians - hold an independent inquiry into rural bank lending or face tough questions from the farming sector.